First impressions are important, and Boston College football’s newest starting quarterback made a pretty good one in front of Alumni Stadium’s packed student section on Saturday afternoon.
“I can’t say enough about the students,” BC head coach Bill O’Brien said. “Their support for us, right behind our bench, in that end zone—in that corner there with the band. I mean, that just is a huge thing, and that’s going to be a huge thing for us.”
Redshirt sophomore and Alabama transfer Dylan Lonergan threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns, and the Eagles (1–0) blew out Fordham (0–1) 66–10 in BC’s home opener.
“We have a great quarterback room—I think it’s one of the best quarterback rooms in the country, I really do,” O’Brien said. “Dylan’s the same guy every day. He’s the same guy, he’s a very consistent guy, he doesn’t let one bad play affect the next play, he takes hard coaching.”
Lonergan, who transferred from Alabama during the offseason, completed his first pass as an Eagle to Reed Harris. But it was redshirt senior Lewis Bond that quickly became Lonergan’s clear right-hand man.
Bond caught seven balls for 106 yards in the first quarter alone, and finished the game with 138 yards as Lonergan targeted him 12 times, twice as many times as any other receiver.
BC scored its first touchdown on the game’s opening drive as Lonergan found Jordan McDonald cutting toward the middle of the field. His 11-yard completion put the Eagles on the board.
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BC’s defense came out looking slightly disjointed and gave up a field goal on Fordham’s first drive. The Eagles recovered effectively, though, keeping the Rams scoreless until they finally scored a touchdown with five minutes to go.
“They fixed some things right away after the first series—got some things fixed—and from that point forward until the very end there, I thought we played really dominant defense, which was great to see,” O’Brien said.
BC’s second drive was as smooth as its first, as it took just six plays for the Eagles to take it 84 yards down the field and stretch their lead to 11. Lonergan hit Bond twice for big gains—first for 27 yards, then for a 32-yard completion that set the Eagles up for another touchdown, which ultimately came from junior Jaedn Skeete.
Lonergan cooled off after his strong start. His accuracy faltered slightly and he waited longer to make his throws, which allowed Fordham’s defense to gain ground and even sack him once. After scoring on its first two drives, BC punted four straight times.
“I thought we did a good job of getting into a rhythm eventually,” O’Brien said. “But there were three or four series there that we got to look at. We got to fix those because, you know, those can’t happen in these games coming up.”
Although the score stood at 14–3 for a lot of the first half, BC’s opener quickly became a full-scale blowout, similar to last year’s home-opener win over Duquesne.
BC’s offense started to gel again on its last possession of the opening half. As the clock winded down, team captain Jeremiah Franklin helped BC advance up the field with ease, becoming a reliable target for some quick zips from Lonergan.
That drive, too, ended with Skeete in the end zone as Lonergan found him open right next to the front-left pylon.
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The momentum from that drive seemed to stick around after the half. Less than a minute into the third quarter, Daveon Crouch snatched an interception and ran it 28 yards into the end zone with ease. His pick six put the Eagles up 28–3.
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Crouch also racked up a sack and five solo tackles on Saturday, as his presence helped a BC defense that leaned heavily on NFL’s Donovan Ezeiruaku last season.
Fordham’s offense got the ball right back, but that possession was just as disastrous for the Rams. Omar Thornton forced a two-yard loss with an instant tackle and Gunnar Smith nearly threw another interception.
The Eagles tacked on three more points when kicker Luca Lombardo booted a 48-yard field goal attempt off the bottom crossbar and into the net.
Then, Harris delivered a highlight reel-worthy catch as he brought the ball down over a defender, giving Lonergan his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon.
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Redshirt freshman Charlie Comella blocked Fordham’s punt with nearly three minutes left in the third quarter, then recovered it to give his team the ball on the 19-yard line. BC once again took advantage of the opportunity, as starting running back Turbo Richard took it in for a touchdown. Richard ended the game with 48 rushing yards.
“We got it going a little bit in the second half—I think Turbo did a good job of getting us going, but we got it to really work on that this week,” O’Brien said of the Eagles’ run game. “If we can run the ball better, which, we’ll work harder on that this week, that’ll really help our play-action offense.”
Second-string quarterback Grayson James, who was competing for the starting quarterback job until just a few weeks ago, took over for Lonergan in the fourth quarter. James’ 52-yard pass set up BC for a rushing touchdown from Alex Broome. His 55-yard bomb to VJ Wilkins on the very next drive ended in yet another score, as freshman Bo McCormack III finished it off.
